- Coachella will stream live on YouTube for the next four years, rejecting Netflix and Amazon bids
- Goldenvoice chose YouTube for its global audience and free access without registration
- New deal includes mini documentaries and artist videos during livestream breaks
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is sticking with YouTube.
Coachella, the largest music festival in North America, will stream live on YouTube for the next four years, selecting the Google-owned video site over rival bids from Netflix Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.
Goldenvoice, the festival promoter that stages Coachella, renewed its deal with YouTube because the site offers the largest and most global audience of any streaming service, Chief Executive Officer Paul Tollett said in an interview.
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“Free with no registration is so key,” he said. “You don't have to remember some passwords and anything like that. You could just jump right in. As soon as you're watching a cat video, switch right over, and you're watching Coachella.”
Under the new deal, Goldenvoice plans to film mini documentaries and other videos about artists that will appear during the livestream when certain stages are between sets. The company will also produce more programming in the run-up to the festival.
Tollett has been a music promoter for four decades, starting with hardcore and punk shows before taking over Goldenvoice with business partner Rick Van Santen from its previous owner, Gary Tovar. He crossed paths with Lyor Cohen, YouTube's global head of music, back when Cohen was a promoter and record executive. Tollett staged the first Coachella in 1999.
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Some 250,000 people attend Coachella every year, eager to see performances by musicians like Beyoncé, Justin Bieber and Kendrick Lamar – as well as dozens of less prominent acts on the bill. Hoping to introduce the magic of the event in the desert to millions of people who've never been, Tollett started livestreaming the festival more than a decade ago from the Coachella website.
YouTube started hosting livestreams of Coachella in 2011. What started as a single stream has since evolved. Viewers can hop between performers like they are at the event, which occurs on several stages across multiple polo fields. Streaming the show live on YouTube has helped Goldenvoice reach more international viewers. The festival has been early in programming pop stars from countries such as South Korea, Nigeria and India, all markets with large audiences on YouTube.
The popularity of Coachella on YouTube has prompted other streaming services to offer rival events. Disney+ streamed Lollapalooza from Chicago this past summer.
Though Coachella suffered a drop in ticket sales a couple years ago, it bounced back this year, buoyed by a strong lineup. One of the highlights was a performance by Bieber, who revisited his catalog by playing videos off of YouTube during the set.
“When I was watching Justin Bieber, it just really drove the point home to me — how entwined Coachella and YouTube are together,” he said.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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